Experiments
by Keara
Summary: Completed James is the subject of a vengeful scientist's experiments and Jessie does all she can to not lose him. James/Jessie fic, angst, torture and violence.
1. Prologue

Disclaimers: None of the characters are mine, except for Della Greene. I don't own anything else. (Don't you get tired of hearing this over and over again?)  
  
Notes: These situations and the outcome of the story are completely a part of my imagination. If you want to borrow anyone or anything, I hope you'll ask first.   
  
  
  
Experiments  
  
  
  
Prologue  
  
  
Inside a cluttered laboratory, a scientist worked on her latest experiment. Her name was Della Greene, and she had a purpose in life, to destroy Team Rocket and its leader Giovanni. It was all she cared about, all that kept her going in life.   
  
Finally, she was finished her new serum. She held it up to the light, watching as the light of her lamp made it seem as if the bluish liquid inside the vial was glowing. She glanced over at the cages, lining one wall. They were all empty.  
  
"Damn." She cursed under her breath. "I need a subject to test this on."  
  
Della rushed to the door, throwing her lab coat to the floor as she left. A Machoke stood outside the door to her lab. He was her one and only friend, also her bodyguard. He followed her as she rushed out of her home.  
  
She didn't even notice what a lovely night it was. A cool breeze brushed her cheek, blowing several strands of her long red hair into her face. She just waved them away, not even thinking to look at the starry night sky. Della was too involved with her work to notice anything. She had a job to finish, a debt to repay.  
  
Della and her Machoke climbed into a speedboat. Then they sped away from her private island, heading toward the mainland. That would be the only place where she would find a test subject. Della and her Machoke were the only inhabitants of her island. There weren't even a few stray pokemon to catch.  
  
On the mainland, she and her Machoke wandered around, searching for a new test subject. She was about to give up hope of finding one, when she saw two people and a pokemon standing in a clearing. She saw by their uniforms, that they were members of Team Rocket.   
  
There was a pretty young woman with long red hair, and a young man with purple hair. A Meowth stood between them. Della was amazed to hear that the Meowth could speak. Della caught pieces of the conversation, and the names of the two people. The girl was named Jessie, and the boy was named James.  
  
The three of them were arguing about a failed mission. Both the Meowth and the girl named Jessie, seemed convinced that it had all been the fault of James, the purple-haired guy. However, he didn't agree.  
  
Della watched from behind several large bushes, as Jessie and Meowth walked to the one side of the clearing to sleep, while James went to the opposite end of the clearing.  
  
"Really, they're making this too easy for me." Della said to herself. This truly was a perfect opportunity. Besides, that James guy is cute, she noted to herself.   
  
Della stayed hidden in the bushes with her Machoke, until she was absolutely sure that they were all asleep. Then, she and her Machoke stepped out of the shadows.  
  
Della reached into her shirt pocket and pulled out a syringe. As she walked, she took off the plastic cap, dropping it to the ground. She knelt down next to James and lifted the syringe into her line of sight. She flicked the needle with her finger and pushed the plunger into the syringe, making sure there were no air bubbles inside of it. A small spray of liquid shot out the tip.  
  
She looked up at her Machoke and nodded, silently telling him to grab the boy. The Machoke grabbed him by the arms, pinning them to the ground. James's eyes snapped open as he woke up. Before he could call out to his friends, Della clamped her hand over his mouth.  
  
"Sshh." She hushed him as he fought against her hand and the Machoke that held him tight. She lifted the syringe into his line of sight. Immediately, he stopped struggling.  
  
Della lowered the syringe. His eyes locked on her. She could see the fear in them, and she felt exhilarated, knowing that she had the control. She leaned closer, and whispered to him. "This will go so much easier if you don't struggle. And if you scream or try to alert your friends in any way, their blood will be on your hands. Do you understand?"   
  
He nodded.  
  
"Good." She smiled and removed her hand from his face, slowly. 'Wow, is he gorgeous', she thought to herself.   
  
"What do you want?" He whispered, in a voice so quiet that she almost didn't hear him.  
  
"You are going to be the subject of my latest experiment. You should really feel honored."  
  
Without another word, she grabbed his sleeve and tore it. Then she jabbed the syringe into his arm and injected the sedative into him. "You might even survive."   
  
She smiled, removing the needle from his arm and dropping it to the ground. She really didn't care if it was found. It wasn't as if she was easy to find, and her fingerprints weren't on record anywhere that she knew of. Besides, these people were members of Team Rocket, they wouldn't be going to the police for help. And Giovanni would never miss one employee.  
  
The sedative worked quickly. The Machoke lifted the limp form of James over his shoulder and followed Della back to the boat. All the while, Della was thinking about how much fun she'd have with James. He was a member of Team Rocket, an organization she had hated for a long time. Maybe she could get in a little revenge while she was testing her new serum.  
  
  
  
To Be Continued . . . 


	2. Part One

Disclaimers: I do not own Pokemon or any of its characters. I am making no money from this.  
  
Notes: James is the subject of Della Greene's harsh experiments. Jessie and Meowth make attempt a daring rescue mission and see the shocking results of the scientist's work.  
  
  
  
Experiments  
  
  
  
Part One  
  
  
James awakened slowly. He found himself shivering on a cold, hard surface. In an instant, he remembered everything. The argument with Jessie and Meowth, and then going to sleep only to be awakened when he felt hands grasp him tightly. Then there was that strange woman that had told him to keep quiet. The woman that had injected him with what must have been a sedative.   
  
He forced his eyes open, and pushed himself to his knees. He was in a cage. He looked down at himself and saw that all his clothes were missing. Quickly, he pulled his legs up to his chest, and wrapped his arms around them. Partly, to keep him warm, but also to cover himself somewhat.  
  
"Oh, you're awake." Said the woman that had injected that stuff into his arm.  
  
"Where am I? Where are my clothes?" He inquired, trying to put up a brave front.  
  
"Here." She said, tossing a pile of clothes into the cage. "You can wear these."  
  
They weren't his clothes, but they were better than nothing. James quickly put on the sweat pants and the plain white T-shirt. "Where am I?" He asked again.  
  
"You are in my lab, on my private island. So don't even try to escape, there's nowhere to go. By the way, I'm Della."  
  
The thought of never escaping, of being held captive by that woman for the rest of his life, filled him with a great sadness. But he pushed it away. He wouldn't give up yet. Jessie was still out there and she'd try to rescue him. At least he hoped she would. But he wouldn't let Della see how worried he was. "Where are my pokemon?" He asked, hoping that his voice hadn't quavered.  
  
"They're fine. And they'll stay that way as long as you do as you're told." She smiled.  
  
James nodded, afraid for the safety of his pokemon. Who knew what she'd do to them if she got angry.  
  
James watched as she unlocked his cage. Her Machoke, the big bully, grabbed onto his arm and pulled him out of the cage. The Machoke forced James to follow the Della further into what looked like a laboratory.  
  
"Get up on the table." She ordered  
  
He would have gotten up on the table by himself, but that Machoke just lifted him up and placed him down on it. It didn't look as if that Machoke would ever leave his side as long as he was out of that cage.  
  
James obeyed all of Della's requests. He wasn't about to get her mad while that Machoke was holding his arm in a vicelike grip. That would have been a very stupid thing to do.   
  
Della gave him a full physical exam. She seemed thrilled when she found out that he was totally healthy and in great shape. James wasn't as thrilled to hear the news.  
  
That very day, Della began her experiments. It started out with just a few injections. But every day after that, there were more and more injections. Then there were the operations, and the pain threshold tests. She wanted to know how much pain and injury she could inflict on him before he passed out. Not once did she explain to James what she was doing to him.   
  
After a month, he began to lose hope. At least he thought it was a month. The days just seemed to clump together. Sometimes he couldn't tell when one ended and the next began. But no matter how much time had passed, James never heard Jessie's voice saying that she had come to rescue him.   
  
It didn't matter if they came now anyway. There was so much pain that he could barely breathe. James wanted to die, wanted all the pain to end. He didn't care if that meant that he'd never see Jessie again, never hear her lovely voice or see her beautiful face. He just wanted the pain to stop.  
  
  
*****  
  
  
Jessie and Meowth pulled their little boat up onto the shore. That morning over two months ago, she had awakened, intending to apologize to James for her harsh words. But he was gone. For a moment she had thought that he'd left her, but then she had found the syringe. Someone had kidnapped him. After that, she and Meowth had spent every waking moment searching for James, but never found anymore clues as to where he could have been taken.  
  
She had almost given up hope, when she overheard some people talking about some weird scientist that lived alone on her island. One of them was talking about how he knew a guy who knew a guy that had heard a man screaming from somewhere on the island.  
  
Jessie didn't care if it was a long shot. It was the only clue she had gotten in so long. If a guy said he knew a guy that knew a guy that had heard screaming, it was good enough for Jessie. And if that information led her to James, she would be ecstatic.  
  
Jessie blamed herself for James being kidnapped. If she hadn't yelled, he wouldn't have had to sleep so far away. Then he wouldn't be missing. Now she was desperate to find him. She couldn't lose him. She loved him.  
  
It was a relatively easy task, sneaking into the scientist's house. It was the middle of the night and she had gone to sleep hours ago. Jessie had been watching the windows through her binoculars and had seen the woman in one of the second floor windows right before the last light went off in the house.  
  
After a little searching, she and Meowth found the door to the lab. It was the only door being guarded, so Jessie assumed it was the lab. Jessie pulled out her tranquilizer gun, which she had bought recently. She shot the Machoke with enough tranquilizers to bring down a charging Kangaskhan. It quickly fell to the floor, asleep. Jessie and Meowth opened the door and stepped over the Machoke, into the room.  
  
This wasn't the lab, just an office of some sort. Jessie saw another door at the other end of the room and walked over to it. Before she opened it, she looked down at the desk beside the door. There was an open file sitting on top of a bunch of papers. It caught her attention. She read a few lines out loud, so that Meowth could hear too.   
  
"Test subject does not seem to be responding to treatments. Pain threshold remains the same. Assessment: Experiment is a complete failure. Options: Dispose of test subject and begin from scratch." Jessie didn't like he sound of that. The word, dispose, sent a shiver down her spine.  
  
They entered the other room. The sight before her, shocked and appalled her. James, her James, was lying in a cage. His clothes were stained in blood. And his body was covered in bruises and wounds. His once beautiful face was marred by a huge purple bruise. His one eye was swollen so much, that it didn't look like it could open. His hair was shorter in some places, and missing in others. Jessie could see stitches in his head, some of them old, some newer. Where he still had hair, it was matted against his scalp with blood.   
  
It looked as if the scientist had just left him there to die. She hadn't even bothered locking the cage after she was done with him. Besides, why would she bother? She was only going to dispose of him anyway.  
  
Jessie rushed to his side. "Meowth." She said to the cat pokemon, although she was looking at James the entire time. "Go find his pokemon."  
  
"Okay Jess." He replied without arguing.  
  
"James?" She knelt down beside him, and lightly touched his shoulder, hoping she didn't cause him any more pain than he was obviously already in. "James, wake up. Please wake up." She pleaded.  
  
He opened one eye slowly. Just as she thought, the other eye was swollen shut. He stared up at her with that one eye. He looked like he was in so much pain. "Jessie? Is it really you?" He asked, his voice barely a whisper.  
  
"Come on James, we're going to get you out of here. Everything's going to be okay." She replied as she tried to hold back her tears. This was no time to cry. They had to get James out of here fast, before that scientist or the Machoke woke up.  
  
Jessie helped James to sit up, then to stand, wrapping her arms around him to keep him steady. He let out several groans as her arms came in contact with his skin. She saw as he bit his lip to keep from crying out.   
  
She was basically dragging him along, as they walked back to the shore. He was so weak, he could barely lift his feet off the ground. Jessie wanted to go find that scientist and do to her what she had done to James. But James's safety was more important. She had to get him away from this place.   
  
Meowth was waiting in the boat when Jessie got there. "I got his pokemon and his old clothes." He whispered.  
  
Jessie carefully helped James into the boat. She started the engine, not caring if the scientist heard now. All she cared about was James. She steered the boat back to the mainland.   
  
Once there, she got him out of the boat and into the back of the van that she had stolen that night. She made him as comfortable as she possibly could. Then she hopped into the driver's seat, with Meowth in the back with James, and took off.   
  
  
  
To Be Continued . . . 


	3. Part Two

Disclaimers: I do not own Pokemon or any of its characters. I am making no money from this.  
  
Notes: Jessie stops and cleans James up. After a while it's obvious that he needs more help than she can provide and she goes for help.  
  
  
  
Experiments  
  
  
  
Part Two  
  
  
Jessie didn't stop driving until morning, and only after she nearly ran off the road for the third time. She parked the car behind some trees, where no one would be able to see them, unless they were looking carefully.  
  
She and Meowth set up camp. Meowth was being unusually helpful, and Jessie appreciated it greatly. While he took care of getting water and starting a fire, Jessie got into the back of the van with James.   
  
She took off her gloves and set them aside. Meowth brought her a bowl of water and some pieces of cloth. He sat beside Jessie. Carefully, he reached out one of his sharp claws and tore the front of James's shirt in two.  
  
Jessie gently removed the shirt. In some places, it clung to him because of all the blood. She took in a sharp breath when she saw what was under his shirt. Even through all the blood she could see them. Scars and healing wounds, and there were so many of them.  
  
"Maybe we should take him to a doctor, Jess." Meowth stated.  
  
"No." Jessie said firmly. "Doctors will ask too many questions."  
  
Then they started the long task of cleaning James's wounds.   
  
  
*****  
  
  
Jessie looked down at James once again. She had been sitting beside him for over two days, only leaving his side when she absolutely had to. But still, he hadn't awakened.  
  
She put her hand to his forehead and felt how feverish he was. Maybe they should've taken him to a doctor like Meowth had suggested. But she pushed those thoughts away immediately. Doctors would ask questions, questions that she didn't have the answers to. She had no idea what that scientist had done to him. Sure, she could see all the scars, wounds, and stitches. But she couldn't be sure of what had been done.  
  
James groaned in his sleep, and Jessie took her hand away. He was in so much pain, the slightest touch of her hand seemed to only hurt him more. She wished she could do something for him, to relieve his pain in some way.  
  
She got out of the van, waking Meowth who had been sleeping beside her. "Where ya going, Jess?" He asked.  
  
"I can't just sit around here while he suffers. I've watched for too long." She replied as she picked up her tranquilizer gun. It looked like a real gun, so it would come in handy with what she was about to do. She turned back to Meowth, "Wait here. Try and keep him as comfortable as possible."  
  
Jessie ran into the darkness. She had seen a small town not too far away. She knew that she would find what she wanted there.  
  
Quietly, she sneaked into the little town. It was the middle of the night, so everyone was probably asleep. She scanned the signs of the stores along the main road. Then she saw what she had been looking for. The name on the sign said, "Doctor Brady."  
  
This is exactly what she had wanted. It was a small town, and didn't even have a hospital. A local doctor was just what she wanted, what she needed. Jessie ran to the door and forced it open.  
  
She ran in, going up the staircase in the back, to get to the Doctor's residence, which was above his office. She found him in bed, sleeping peacefully. Good, he's alone, she noted.  
  
Jessie shoved him violently, waking him from his peaceful slumber. "What do you want?" He asked with a hint of anger in his voice. "What are you doing here?"  
  
She raised the tranquilizer gun and pointed it in his face. "I have a patient for you. Get dressed and bring your equipment."  
  
Doctor Brady did exactly as he was told. Obviously, he hadn't been able to tell that it was only a tranquilizer gun. "What is wrong with this patient of mine?" He asked as he packed some equipment into his little black bag.  
  
"He's been experimented on by some weird scientist. I'm not exactly sure what she's done to him. I rescued him two days ago, and he's hurt badly. He's in a lot of pain." Jessie replied.  
  
"Why didn't you just take him to a hospital?"  
  
"We're not exactly on the right side of the law. And I'm sure that the doctors at a hospital will ask too many questions that I can't answer." She shoved him toward the door as he closed his black bag.  
  
Jessie brought him back to the van as quickly as she could. When the doctor slowed, she shoved him from behind, forcing him to hasten his pace. By the time they reached the van, however, the sun had risen.  
  
She opened the door of the van, letting the doctor go first. Meowth didn't say a word as the doctor climbed in and sat beside James. She and Meowth just watched as he examined their friend.  
  
He filled a syringe with a clear liquid from a small bottle. Then, after making sure that there were no air bubbles in the syringe, he injected the liquid into James's arm. "There, this should make him a little more comfortable. But I really think he should be in a hospital."  
  
"That's one thing we can't do. We're criminals. We'd be arrested." Jessie replied.  
  
The doctor glanced at Jessie, looking her over. He sighed, "Then, I guess I have no choice but to invite you into my home."  
  
Jessie was shocked, and felt a little nervous. Maybe this guy was trying to trick her. "But I just kidnapped you and forced you out of your home in the middle of the night. Why would you do a thing like that?"  
  
"For one thing, the gun you're holding is only a tranquilizer gun. And you seem genuinely concerned for your friend's welfare." He pulled a blanket up over James.  
  
Jessie dropped the gun. "I don't know how to thank you for this." She replied, tears threatening to come forward.  
  
"No need. I became a doctor to help people, not to judge them." He said, as Jessie got into the driver's seat. "There's an alley behind my office. You can park your van there and no one will be able to see it."  
  
"Thank you, although it's not really my van." Jessie said as she started the van.  
  
  
*****  
  
  
James dreamed tangled visions that drifted from the nightmarish to the merely confusing. He drifted with the dreams, helpless and, to a certain extent, indifferent. It was as if the things he saw were of no concern to him personally, even though many of them happened to him. He felt curiously detached, so that kissing Jessie, which he had longed to do for so long, meant as little to him as ramming a knife into her chest and watching her die. He just watched, floating aimlessly.  
  
He walked through the ruined mansion that had once been his home, with Jessie at his side. Statues filled the halls and she identified each of them as members of his family. They crumbled at her touch, and he wearily tried to support them as they became handfuls of gritty dust that trickled through his fingers. It was always too much and he gave up.  
  
Jessie stood atop a pyre of burning twigs, while Della tore pages from a book and tossed them into the fire. The flames licked at Jessie's legs and she screamed out in pain as James tried in vain to get to her.  
  
He climbed a long rope, just below Giovanni, the other man's boots continually grinding on his head. And when the rope fell, he was swept out over an ocean, flying with frightening speed in long, arcing loops. His legs were on fire, burning while he patted at them in amazement.  
  
There were more peaceful dreams, long interludes of sunshine and warmth, and occasionally Meowth and Growlie sat by his side. It was during one of these interludes that he kissed Jessie, ten or a dozen energetic, passionate kisses.  
  
After that there was Della again, crouching on a coffin with her Machoke by her side, talking and talking in a vicious little whisper. James could not hear her, but he did not want to go closer, though the woman continually curled her long fingers in a come-here gesture.  
  
And then there was Jessie, bending over him, her hand cool and firm against his cheek, better than a pillow. He leaned into it, closing his eyes, and slept.  
  
Then there were no more dreams for a while.  
  
When James was awake and knew it, he lay still, unwilling to open his eyes. He was in a strange bed, softer than the ground he was used to sleeping on. It was comfortable, and he could feel sunshine on his hands where they rested on the blankets. His body ached terribly, but if he stayed still, the pain wasn't so bad.  
  
He lay there for a long time, the bed too perfect a nest to leave. Even the sound of footsteps from somewhere out in the room didn't make him open his eyes. But when he felt a weight suddenly land on the bed, stretching the blankets tighter over his stomach, he grunted and forced his eyelids up.   
  
Meowth was sitting on the bed beside him, staring at him. "You're awake." He commented.  
  
"Not for long." James mumbled, and raised a weak hand to pat clumsily at the pokemon's head. Meowth curled up beside him, an unusual act for the catlike pokemon, and began purring.  
  
It wasn't a room he knew. There was a window, but all he could see was a blue sky. He felt a little nervous not knowing where he was. For a moment he thought that Della would enter the room with one of her painful experiments. But that moment passed and he closed his eyes, letting his hand lie on the soft fur of Meowth's back. The steady rhythm of his breathing lulled James back to sleep.  
  
When James awoke the second time, his head was much clearer. A great flood of moonlight lay across the foot of his bed. He stirred, trying to raise himself, but twinges of pain all over his body warned him not to and he fell back.  
  
His movement woke Meowth, though. The pokemon raised his head. "You're awake." He declared.  
  
"Again." James whispered. "Where are we?"  
  
"A doctor's house."  
  
"How long have I been here?"   
  
"Almost two weeks." Meowth answered. "You were very sick. Doctor Brady wasn't sure if you'd make it."  
  
James blew out a long breath and asked, "Where's Jessie?"  
  
"She's in another room, sleeping. Jessie's been by your side since we rescued ya. She refused to leave your side and really hasn't slept since we brought ya here. Finally, the Doctor had her sedated so that she would get some rest."  
  
James was touched. He had no idea that Jessie cared so much about him. Then he thought of something else to ask. "Why was I out so long?"  
  
"Doctor Brady was worried that ya might hurt yourself if ya moved around too much. So, he kept ya sedated."  
  
James smiled to himself, thinking of the fact that Jessie cared about him, and closed his weary eyes. After awhile, he felt as Meowth lowered his head. They slept again.  
  
James was awake the next morning when the doctor came in. Meowth was gone. "I'm glad to see you're among the living again." Doctor Brady said.  
  
"Yes," James said, smiling. He had managed to pull himself up to a sitting position with only a little pain from most of his body. "And glad to be so."  
  
Doctor Brady walked over to James and sat on the bed beside him. He checked James over quickly. "Well, I see you are doing much better. But I don't want you getting out of this bed for at least another week. You're lucky to be alive in this condition. What exactly was this scientist trying to do to you?"  
  
James looked away. His memories of Della's experiments were all a blur. All he could really remember was the pain. There was so much pain. He would have given anything for her to stop the pain.  
  
"I don't really know." He finally answered. "Della never explained anything to me. I was just a guinea pig to her."  
  
Jessie's voice pulled James out of his terrible memories. "James!" She called out, as she ran to his side.  
  
"Hi, Jessie." James stated, simply. He was ecstatic to see her, but his body hurt too much to show how he really felt. "I can't believe you came for me."  
  
A curious expression passed over Jessie's face. It had seemed like compassion, but since it passed so quickly, James just shrugged it off as being a part of his imagination. "Of course I came for you. I couldn't let some scientist get away with stealing something from me." She replied, smirking.  
  
James felt a little bad. Maybe Jessie didn't care for him. She had only rescued him because she didn't appreciate someone stealing from her.   
  
She turned to the doctor, "How long until we can get out of here."  
  
"He shouldn't get out of bed for at least another week." Doctor Brady replied.  
  
"I guess we can stick around that long. But once he's ready to travel I want to leave. We've stayed around here too long as it is."  
  
  
  
To Be Continued . . . 


	4. Part Three

Disclaimers: I do not own Pokemon or any of its characters. I am making no money from this.  
  
Notes: James is back to traveling with Jessie and Meowth again. However, it soon becomes clear that he is most definitely unwell and Jessie is forced to ask for help from the enemy.  
  
  
  
Experiments  
  
  
  
Part Three  
  
  
A couple months had passed since they had left Doctor Brady's home. Most of James's wounds were healed, and his hair was growing back quite nicely. Sure, he had to wear a hat, to cover where the hair wasn't the same length in some places, but he did look much better. His strength, however, wasn't back to normal. He slept longer than he used to, and they couldn't travel quite as far during a day, as they could before he had gotten hurt.  
  
Jessie awakened, stretching her arms as she sat up. She looked over at James, hearing muffled cries. He was tossing and turning in his sleep. He was having a nightmare again. Jessie had gotten used to seeing him like this. Every morning when she woke up, she saw him like that.  
  
It pained her to see him tormented by his dreams. But he wouldn't talk to her. When she asked him about the dreams, he wouldn't answer her, or he'd change the subject. Jessie was worried about him. Whatever Della had done to him, had been so terrible that it caused him nightmares when he slept. Jessie wanted to find that scientist and teach her a lesson, a painful lesson.  
  
She stood, and walked over to his sleeping bag. Kneeling down beside him, she gently grabbed his shoulder and shook. "Wake up, James." She said.  
  
His eyes snapped open, and for a moment didn't focus on anything. Then he looked at her. His face was drenched in sweat, he breaths coming in short ragged gasps. He sat up, throwing her hand from his shoulder. "I'm fine," He glared at her, as if it were her fault that he suffered through these nightmares.  
  
She stood and backed away. "We have to get going. Rare Pokemon won't steal themselves you know." She said, pretending that everything was okay. But it wasn't. James was still hurting and there was nothing she could do about it when he kept shutting her out.   
  
She should have just told him how she felt about him when he had awakened in Doctor Brady's house. Jessie wondered why she hadn't. She had passed up the perfect opportunity to let him know that she loved him, but she had chickened out. Was she so scared that he didn't feel the same?  
  
James got up, slowly, placing his hand against his head as he moved. Jessie noticed. "You okay?" Jessie asked.  
  
"I'm fine." He replied. "I just have a headache."  
  
An hour later, they were battling with Ash and the rest of Team Twerp. James released his Wheezing, like he usually did, while Jessie let out Arbok. But unlike most of their battles, Jessie and James were actually winning.   
  
Suddenly, James fell to the ground, clutching his head in pain. Jessie knelt by his side, ignoring the battle that they had been winning only moments ago. Ash, Brock, Misty, and the pokemon all gathered around while James screamed in agony.  
  
Jessie didn't know what to do. She was beginning to panic. She looked to Meowth, who looked just as scared as she was. Then, she did the only thing she could think of. She asked the twerps for help.  
  
Brock and Misty rushed to help, while Ash hesitated for a moment. "We should get him to a hospital." Misty suggested.  
  
"What's wrong with him?" Brock asked.  
  
Jessie's eyes went wide, as James stopped moving. His eyes fell shut as he slipped into unconsciousness. Meowth placed a paw on her arm. "We should have taken him to a hospital months ago, Jess." He said.  
  
"I know, but what about the police. If we get spotted, we'll be arrested." She said, tears running down her face.  
  
"Well, we have to get him to a hospital. Maybe you should change out of that uniform, then you'll be less conspicuous." Brock said.  
  
"I'll get some clothes for James." Meowth announced, as he ran to the car they had stolen that afternoon.  
  
"Come on Jessie, let's get you some clothes too." Misty said as she stood. She took hold of Jessie's arm and led her away.  
  
Jessie dressed as quickly as she possibly could. She put on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. Her sneakers weren't even tied, when she and Misty went back over to James.  
  
"I think you better tell us what happened to him." Brock said as he and Ash lifted James to his feet. They stood under his shoulders, holding him up.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Jessie replied, pretending not to know.  
  
"Tell us how he got those scars, Jessie." Ash said, as he lifted the T-shirt James was now wearing to show Jessie the scars.  
  
Jessie looked away, not needing to see the scars. "Several months ago, he was kidnapped by some scientist." Jessie said as they walked to the car. "I don't exactly know what she did to him. But when I found him and rescued him, he was covered in wounds. He almost died." She couldn't bring herself to continue. Remembering those horrible days of waiting to see if James would die, brought tears to her eyes once again.  
  
Meowth continued for her, telling them about James's near-death condition after they rescued him. He told them about Doctor Brady and of the time that James had spent recovering from all his injuries. He was still talking when they were putting James in the car.  
  
Brock got behind the wheel, while Jessie got in the back beside James. She held his head in her lap as Brock drove them to the nearest town. It was almost too much for her, thinking that she might still lose him after all of this.  
  
  
*****  
  
  
Jessie sat in the waiting room of the hospital, waiting for any news of James. An Officer Jenny walked up to her. "Miss, we need to ask you a few questions." She said.  
  
"What do you want to know?" Jessie asked.  
  
"I want to know what happened to the young man you brought in today."  
  
"I don't know what happened." Jessie said. She couldn't tell Officer Jenny about the scientist. Who would believe that story? Besides, she would want details on how James was kidnapped. And if Jessie told about what they had been doing the night he was kidnapped, about how they were trying to steal pokemon, they would both be arrested.  
  
But Officer Jenny obviously didn't believe her, she kept asking questions, questions that Jessie couldn't answer without getting her and James into serious trouble. Finally, Brock came to her rescue. "Can't you see she's just been through something very traumatic?" Brock said, wrapping his arm around Jessie's shoulders.  
  
"I just need her to answer a few questions." Officer Jenny replied.  
  
"Can't it wait until after she finds out if her friend is okay?"  
  
Officer Jenny looked down for a moment, obviously debating whether or not to wait. "I guess it can wait a few hours." She finally said.  
  
Brock turned his attention to Jessie as Jenny walked away. "The doctor says you can go see him now. Room 358." He whispered.  
  
"Thank you." Jessie replied. She got up and walked to James's hospital room.  
  
He was sitting up in bed when she walked in, his eyes showing that he was still in pain. He was hooked up to various machines, all beeping and making other annoying sounds.  
  
Jessie walked over to him. He looked up at her, while she took hold of his hand. He was shaking, his hand just laying limp in hers. His eyes were surrounded by dark circles, and his skin was so pale. "I'm dying aren't I?" He asked, somberly.  
  
Jessie felt her tears again, but struggled to keep them away. "No, you're going to be fine."  
  
"Before I die, I want to tell you something." He said, his voice no more than a whisper.  
  
"No, you are not going to die." She stated.  
  
"Listen to me, please." He pleaded, and Jessie shut her mouth. "I love you Jessie, more than anything in the world. Thinking of you was the only thing that kept me going when Della was performing her experiments on me."  
  
Jessie couldn't keep the tears away any longer. They streamed down her cheeks, falling from her chin onto James's bed. "I love you too, James. For so long, I was afraid to tell you. I don't want to lose you now."  
  
He lifted his hand, weakly, and brushed away her tears with his thumb. "I'm sorry Jess, I don't think I can hold on much longer. I wish had told you earlier, when we still had time." His body began to shake as he went into a coughing fit, horrible, hacking coughs.  
  
Jessie jumped up, screaming for a doctor. Several doctors quickly ran in. They immediately went to James's side. She couldn't see what they were doing, as they had blocked her view. A nurse pulled her outside, forcing her away from James as the doctors worked on him. "Oh, God, it hurts!" She heard James scream, as the door closed in her face.  
  
The nurse took her back to the waiting room, where she sat in a chair. Jessie held her face in her hands, not wanting to believe that James could die. He loved her, she loved him. It couldn't end like this.  
  
Jessie raised her head, and saw the wall across from her. It was lined with phones. There was only one person she could call, only one person that could possibly help. But Jessie didn't know if it was a good idea or not. If she called, would he really help James?  
  
She stood, finally deciding that she had nothing left to lose. As she picked up the phone and dialed the number, her heartbeat quickened. A face appeared on the video phone. Seeing that face filled her with fear, but she had to speak, had to ask for his help. She spoke, her voice quavering even though she only spoke two words. "Hello, Boss."   
  
  
  
To Be Continued . . . 


	5. Part Four

Disclaimers: I do not own Pokemon or any of its characters. I am making no money from this.  
  
Notes: James is taken away for "treatment" and Jessie is left to wonder about her. Her life turns into a shambles and months later she's reunited with Ash and the others and they come across quite a surprising scene.  
  
  
  
Experiments  
  
  
  
Part Four  
  
  
Giovanni arrived quickly. Jessie was sitting in the waiting room when he walked up to her. She stood up quickly, knowing that even though James was hurt, she couldn't show the Boss disrespect.  
  
A crowd of men in expensive looking suits stood behind Giovanni. They were lawyers, most likely. Another group of men was beside them, these men were wearing what looked like lab coats. They must be doctors.   
  
Jessie wanted to ask who they were, but she knew that she wasn't permitted to speak unless spoken to. So she waited, hoping that Giovanni would say something.  
  
"Which room is he in?" He finally asked, after a long uncomfortable silence, his face showing no concern.  
  
"Room 358, Sir." Jessie replied.  
  
"Doctors." Giovanni said, gesturing down the hall. The men in lab coats broke off from the rest of the group. They walked down the hallway.   
  
Jessie looked up at Giovanni. Her mind was screaming at her to say something, to find out what those doctors were going to do with James. Finally, she spoke, not caring if Giovanni yelled at her for talking without his permission. "Will they help James?" She asked.  
  
He looked at her for a moment, his eyes showing how angry he was with her. But he didn't yell, he kept his temper in check. "They'll take very good care of James. Now, if you'll just wait here, my lawyers and I have to have a chat with the hospital administrator about James being released into my care." He turned and left, not waiting for a reply.  
  
Only minutes later, Jessie saw Giovanni's doctors wheeling James out of his room on a gurney. Giovanni and his lawyers were close behind. Jessie stood as they approached.  
  
Giovanni clamped his hand on her shoulder, stopping her from getting any closer to James than she already was. "You did the right thing calling me. You'll go far in Team Rocket." He said, his voice low, so that no one but Jessie could hear him.  
  
"What about James?" Jessie asked, as she watched the gurney and all the doctors and lawyers leave the hospital.  
  
"He is of no concern of yours anymore. I'll personally make sure that he gets all of the medical attention he deserves." Giovanni replied. Then he turned and left.  
  
She wanted to believe him, but the look she had seen in his cold eyes, made her shudder inwardly. There was something about this that didn't seem right. If she had done the right thing, calling Giovanni and asking for his help, then why did she feel so awful? She had only called him because his doctors were so much better than anyone they'd find in this small town. But did they really want to help James?  
  
  
*****  
  
  
Jessie was a pale shadow of what she had been. Months ago, James had been taken from her by Giovanni. She hadn't heard anything since then. She didn't even know if James was still alive or not.  
  
She had tried to continue as usual. But she just couldn't keep her mind off of James. She hadn't been able to steal anything, not pokemon or cars, nothing.  
  
Her life had ended the moment that James was taken from her. He was everything to her, and he had loved her. She just wished that she had told him about her feelings sooner. Maybe then, they would have had some time together before he had gotten sick.   
  
Meowth was the only thing keeping her from ending her miserable existence. He kept her hopes up, telling her that she would see James again. Without Meowth's presence, she didn't know how she would have gotten along. His constant companionship was all that she had left now that James was gone.  
  
"Come on, Jess. You gotta try and steal something." Meowth said.  
  
Jessie stood in the middle of the road, waiting for the next trainer to come along. In the distance she saw Ash and the others approaching her. She hadn't seen any of them since that day in the hospital. She had left quickly, after James had been taken away, without one word to them.   
  
These were the last people she wanted to see, especially in her present condition. Her skin was pale, she had circles under her eyes from lack of sleep. Her clothes were smudged with dirt. She just didn't take care of herself like she used to.  
  
When Ash and the others got close enough, Jessie started a pokemon battle. She didn't pay attention to them when they talked to her, not listening to a word any of them said. During the battle she felt nothing, as if she were dead inside.  
  
"Hey Jess, ya gotta come see this!" Meowth shouted, bringing Jessie out of her daze.  
  
She ran over to where Meowth was and crouched down behind the bushes where he had been hiding. She heard Ash and the others approaching from behind, but didn't really care if they were there or not. Jessie just looked out over the field beyond the hill they were situated on. No one would be able to see them, because of the bushes that hid their presence.  
  
Jessie saw Giovanni, standing in front of someone, giving him orders. When Giovanni moved away, Jessie saw that it was James. She wanted to run out and see him, to just throw her arms around James and never let him go, but Misty held her back. "Wait. There's something different about him." Misty said.  
  
Jessie looked at him again and noticed what the girl was talking about. James was dressed in completely black clothing. Around his neck was a metal band with small flashing lights on it, and his wrists were bound by solid metal restraints.  
  
She and the others watched as the restraints and the bands were removed from James. Giovanni and all the other people around him, stepped back, away from James. "Do it!" Giovanni ordered.  
  
A herd of Rhyhorns came charging out at James from the other end of the field. But James didn't move out of the way. In fact, he didn't look the slightest bit scared or even nervous.  
  
Jessie was frozen in place, watching the Rhyhorns getting closer and closer to him. When they were only a few feet from him, James reached his hand out, his palm facing the charging Rhyhorns. The Rhyhorns stopped suddenly, as if they had just hit something.  
  
"What just happened?" Ash asked.  
  
Jessie was too shocked to reply. She watched as Giovanni walked up to James and said, "Good work."  
  
Just then, James looked up at the bushes, where Jessie and the others were hiding.  
  
"What is it? Spies?" Giovanni asked.  
  
James nodded.  
  
"Then go get them." The Boss ordered.  
  
"Yes, Sir." James replied. James closed his eyes and vanished into thin air.  
  
"Where'd he go?" Misty asked.  
  
"Right behind you." James replied.  
  
They all spun around and saw James standing there. "James?" Jessie said, so happy to see him alive. She and the others stood.  
  
But James just stared at her coldly. "Leave before you get hurt." He said, walking past them, back to the field and Giovanni.  
  
"Wait, James." Jessie called out. She couldn't let him leave her, not now.  
  
James stopped and turned. He looked confused. "Who is this James you keep referring to?"  
  
"You. Your name is James." Jessie stated, not believing that he didn't know who he was.  
  
James looked at her with an icy stare. A chill ran up her spine at his gaze. "That is quite impossible. You are mistaken. I have no name." He turned and walked away again.  
  
Once he had left, Misty turned to Jessie. "That was James, wasn't it?"  
  
"Yes. Yes it was." She replied.  
  
"But then, what happened to him? Why doesn't he remember his own name?" Ash asked.  
  
"There's only one way to find out." Jessie stood and walked in the opposite direction of the field, of James. She had to get some answers and she only knew of one way to get them. Behind her, she heard Misty and the others following her.  
  
  
  
To Be Continued . . . 


	6. Part Five

Disclaimers: I do not own Pokemon or any of its characters. I am making no money from this.  
  
Notes: Jessie, Ash, Brock, and Misty head to the island of Dr. Della Greene, where they find a sight that Jessie finds unexpected, although not displeasing to her.  
  
  
  
Experiments  
  
  
  
Part Five  
  
  
Della's island wasn't quite as Jessie remembered it. After renting a boat, since Misty, Brock, and Ash wouldn't let her steal one, they had immediately gone to the island.   
  
Once they had pulled the boat up on shore, Jessie had gone to the house, the others trailing behind her. But when she got there, she found that the house was a mess. The door had been broken into and all the windows were smashed, several pieces of furniture were lying outside. It was just a total wreck.  
  
Then she saw Della. The woman's arm was in a cast, and by the way she moved, Jessie could tell that her ribs had been broken, although not very recently. She and her Machoke were rummaging through what remained of her home, picking up the few things that hadn't been broken.  
  
"What happened here?" Jessie asked, stepping closer to the scientist.  
  
"Some men from Team Rocket came, demanding my research. When I wouldn't give it to them, they did this." She replied, gesturing around at her home. "I only just got out of the hospital. Because of what they did to me, I had to have physical therapy sessions."  
  
Jessie didn't care what this woman had gone through. After what she had done to James, she should have been treated worse than this. "What did you do to James?" She demanded.  
  
Della stared at Jessie, looking her over. "Who are you?" She asked. "I see by your uniform that you're a member of Team Rocket. Have you come to finish the job your coworkers started?"  
  
"I just came to find out what you did to James." Jessie stated.  
  
Della shrugged and began talking as if what she had done to James had meant nothing to her at all. "I was trying to make a better soldier, someone to help me accomplish my mission."  
  
"Mission?" Brock asked from behind Jessie.  
  
"To put an end to Team Rocket and Giovanni. To destroy the man that killed my father and destroyed my life. Over my father's corpse, I vowed to rid the world of Giovanni's evil." Della replied, her eyes blazing with anger.  
  
"So you just used James for your own purposes? What gave you the right?" Jessie spat, despising the woman that stood in front of her.  
  
"I have been waiting years for my revenge. If a few die so that I can destroy Team Rocket, so be it. If they happen to be members of Team Rocket, that's even better. I don't regret my actions in the least." She turned away from Jessie and the others, walking into her house. From the door, she spoke to them. "It's getting dark, and I don't recommend traveling at night. If you want to stay the night, you are more than welcome to. And don't worry, I won't use any of you for my experiments."  
  
Jessie and the others set up their sleeping bags outside Della's house. Jessie didn't really want to spend the night in her house, not after what she had done to James. And it didn't look as if Ash or the others would leave her alone for a minute. Even Meowth was staying outside with her.  
  
She laid down on her sleeping bag and closed her eyes. But she wasn't going to sleep. She just had to let the others believe that she was. She had something to do tonight.  
  
Hours later, Jessie opened her eyes and sat up. She looked around at the others. Good, they're all asleep, she noted. Then she stood, and walked to the beach.  
  
Two boats were up on the shore. One was Jessie's, the other must have been the scientist's. Jessie walked over to Della's boat and disabled it. She couldn't let the others follow her. They would only get in her way. Besides, she didn't want anyone else to get hurt.  
  
She ran over to her boat and pushed it into the water. Quickly, she started the engine, not caring if they heard her now or not. They couldn't stop her now. She sped back to the mainland as fast as she could.   
  
  
*****  
  
  
Jessie stood inside one of many Team Rocket bases. This was the closest one to the field where she had seen James a few days ago. Hopefully, this was where they were keeping him.  
  
A guard turned the corner ahead of her, and Jessie ducked behind a large plant. She had sneaked in and couldn't let herself be seen by anyone. The punishment would be severe if she was found here. She held her breath as the guard passed by her hiding place. Once he was gone, Jessie continued on her way. She found the lab and silently crept inside. She hid in the shadows.  
  
From her hiding place, Jessie could see Giovanni talking with a scientist about James, who was right behind them. James was standing in what looked like a large tube. Metal bars restricted his movement. There was one across his chest and upper arms, one over his thighs, another over his ankles, one over his throat, and the last over his stomach and lower arms. His eyes were closed and he looked like he was sleeping. His shirt was gone and he was hooked up to various machines that recorded information from his body.  
  
"Is the device in place?" Giovanni asked the scientist.  
  
"Yes, sir. Here is the control unit." The scientist handed Giovanni something that looked like a wristwatch. "Just put it on and press the button on the side and it will be activated."  
  
Giovanni followed his instructions. "This better work." He said through clenched teeth.  
  
James's eyes snapped open, startling Jessie. "So, you do not trust me, after all." He stated.  
  
"Just a precautionary measure, I assure you. Now, you should really be resting. I have many plans for you." Giovanni replied.  
  
"Is that all I am to you? Am I just a tool to be used to gain your objective?"  
  
"Of course not. Your welfare is of the utmost importance to me." Giovanni reassured him.  
  
"I must admit that I have doubts of your intentions." James said.  
  
"And why is that?" Giovanni asked.  
  
"That girl I saw at the field, she seemed familiar. But I could not remember ever meeting her before. And I have been having dreams of places I have never been to." James said.  
  
"They are just dreams, meaningless."  
  
"Was I not created in this lab? Have you been lying to me?" James asked, his eyes studying Giovanni carefully.  
  
Giovanni replied immediately, not even taking a moment to think. "Of course you were created here. How else do you explain the powers you possess that no other human has?" Giovanni paused a moment. "Now rest. We have much work to do."  
  
James closed his eyes, as Giovanni and the scientist turned and walked over to the door. They closely passed by Jessie's hiding place. Jessie overheard every word Giovanni said to the scientist, and what he said scared her. "I thought you said his memories were permanently erased."  
  
"I guess a few remnants still remain in his subconscious."  
  
"I want them erased!" He ordered.  
  
"Yes, sir." The scientist said, following Giovanni out of the room.  
  
Jessie waited a few seconds after the door shut behind the scientist. Then, she emerged from her hiding place and walked over to James. His eyes snapped open as she stepped up to him. Jessie jumped, startled. She hadn't expected him to wake up so suddenly.  
  
"Why were you hiding over there?" James asked.  
  
"You saw me?"  
  
"I felt your presence." He paused for a moment. "Why are you here?"  
  
"I came to rescue you." She replied.  
  
"I do not need rescuing." James said.  
  
Jessie ignored him and began pulling the metal bars away from him. "Yes, you do. You may not remember me, but I remember you, James."  
  
"Why do you persist in calling me that? I told you, I have no name." He said, glaring at her indignantly.  
  
"Yes, you do. Your name is James. And you are my friend. We're partners. We've gone almost everywhere together." She replied, getting annoyed with the fact that he had amnesia and denied it.  
  
James's brow furrowed in concentration. "Have I been to a place with a very large house, with people that really didn't care about me, and an annoying girl that always told me that I was doing stuff wrong?"  
  
Jessie felt a smile spread across her face as she replied. "Yes. That's where you grew up."  
  
"Then he did lie to me." He said.  
  
Jessie stepped back away from him, as his eyes glowed red. The bars that remained around his body, broke apart as if they had been made of delicate glass and someone had smashed them with a rock. Jessie couldn't help but gasp in shock.  
  
He grabbed her arm, gently. "I want to see the outside again. Will you show me?" His eyes were soft now, back to their usual green.  
  
Jessie nodded, too shocked to do anything else.  
  
James lifted his hand, facing his palm at one of the walls. Jessie watched in amazement, as his eyes once again glowed red. A beam of red energy shot out of his palm, instantly disintegrating the wall it hit.   
  
He pulled Jessie outside, but stopped only a few yards away from the building. They both turned, hearing the angry shouts of Giovanni. For a moment, Jessie thought that James would kill Giovanni as easily as he had destroyed that wall. But James just closed his eyes.   
  
Jessie suddenly felt dizzy. She closed her eyes as the world began spinning. When she opened her eyes, Giovanni was gone. So was the Team Rocket base. In fact, they were in a completely different place. Birds sang in trees near the crystal clear lake. A small cabin stood only yards away. It looked like a very peaceful place.  
  
"What happened?" Jessie asked, looking around at the pretty scenery.   
  
"I teleported us to safety." He stated calmly.  
  
Jessie turned to him, remembering that he had wasted a perfectly good opportunity to get revenge. "Why didn't you kill Giovanni back there?"  
  
"I couldn't." He replied, looking to the ground.  
  
"But I saw you shoot a beam at that wall, destroying it. You could have done the same to him."  
  
"No, I couldn't. Here, look." He turned his back to her and lifted his hair, exposing the back of his neck.  
  
Jessie looked, and saw something that shocked her. Imbedded in his neck, was a metal chip of some kind, with a tiny, blinking green light.  
  
"If I use my powers against Giovanni, or if he thinks I will, he can activate this chip, which will send intense pain directly into my brain stem and spinal cord." He sighed, dropping his hair and turning back to her.  
  
"Can he activate it now?" Jessie asked, worried.  
  
"No. Luckily, it does not have a great deal of range. He would have to be within a few feet of me to use it."  
  
Suddenly, James fell to the ground, panting in ragged breaths. Sweat was soaking his skin.   
  
Jessie was terrified, fearing that he was hurt or sick. "Are you okay?"   
  
"I need to rest." He said, then promptly passed out.  
  
Jessie put her hand to his head, checking for a fever. He wasn't hot. Maybe he was just tired. She stood, grabbing his wrists as she got up. Then she began dragging him to that cabin she had seen earlier.  
  
When she got to the cabin, she found to her relief that no one was there. Then she took James into the bedroom and lifted him onto a bed.  
  
  
*****  
  
  
Jessie sat by his side, not knowing exactly how long she had been there. She watched as he had a nightmare. His arms flailed at unseen enemies. His skin was covered in a sheen of sweat, and his face held a pained expression.  
  
She wanted to reach out, to wake him gently. But she was afraid. She had seen what he had done to that wall. What if he did the same to her, unintentionally? So she just sat there, and waited.  
  
Eventually, his eyes snapped open as he sat up straight. After a few seconds, he turned to look at her. His eyes showed pain and sadness for only a moment. Then he wiped his hand over his face as he swung his legs over the side of the bed.   
  
"You're still here?" He asked, his face showing a hint of confusion.  
  
"I would never leave you, James. Not after all we've been through together." A tear fell from her eye, and she brushed it away quickly.  
  
He stood and walked away from her, not responding to what she had said. She followed him silently as he walked out of the cabin. He approached the edge of the lake, and just looked out over the water.  
  
"Are you okay?" Jessie asked, stepping beside him.  
  
"I'm fine." He replied.  
  
"What happened to you? Why did you pass out?"   
  
He sighed, then spoke. "I get exhausted after using too much of my powers. Before you had arrived at the base, my abilities had been tested to discover my limits. I hadn't had a chance to replenish the energy when we escaped. I used up the last of my energy getting away from the base."  
  
"Oh, okay." She said, not knowing exactly what to say to what he had just told her.  
  
For a few minutes there was nothing but an awkward silence between them. Then, James spoke, his words quiet. "Tell me something." He said, still looking out at the water.  
  
"What?" Jessie asked, slightly confused.  
  
James turned to her. In his eyes, she saw fear and pain. She wanted nothing more than to help him, to take away that pain. But wasn't sure how she could. "Tell me something about myself, anything."  
  
Jessie thought for a moment, trying to think of something that might spark a memory in him, anything that might do the trick. "You were raised by a wealthy family, but you ran away from home because they cared nothing for you and treated you like nothing more than an object. You collect bottle caps. You're sweet and kind, the greatest guy I have ever had the pleasure of knowing." Her tears fell from her face. But she couldn't stop them this time.  
  
She felt a hand on her cheek and looked up to see James smiling at her. "Was there something between us?" He asked quietly, his smile disappearing as he took his hand away.  
  
"Neither of us told each other how we felt, until it was too late." She replied, turning away from him.  
  
"What do you mean?"   
  
"You were kidnapped by a scientist, and experimented on for months. When I rescued you, I was too afraid to tell you how I felt, because I knew I might still lose you. You were so badly injured, it didn't look as if you were going to live." She paused a moment taking in a deep breath and exhaling slowly.  
  
Then, she continued. "Then, when you got better, I just chickened out. I wasn't sure if you loved me back. We didn't tell each other how we felt until you were lying in agony in a hospital bed. And then I called Giovanni."  
  
"You called Giovanni?" He asked, his voice full of shock and anger.  
  
Jessie turned back to him. She lifted her head and looked up at him. In his eyes, she saw his anger, his shock. Jessie had to make him understand. "It was the only thing I could think of to save you. If I had known what he'd do to you, I still would have done it, because at least you're alive. If I have to sacrifice my heart so that you will live, so be it."  
  
Jessie turned and ran, knowing that she couldn't face him again after what she had done. It was all her fault. If she hadn't called Giovanni, this never would have happened. But she had told the truth earlier. If she had it to do over again, she wouldn't do anything differently.   
  
She didn't stop running until she ran out of breath. By then, she was far enough away from the lake that she couldn't see it anymore. She collapsed to her knees, panting in ragged breaths. Her tears streamed down her face, but she didn't care anymore. James probably hated her now that he knew she had been the one that had turned him over to Giovanni.  
  
  
  
To Be Continued . . . 


	7. Part Six

Disclaimers: I do not own Pokemon or any of its characters. I am making no money from this.  
  
Notes: Jessie takes James back to Della's island. Along the way, James begins to regain his memories. When they reach the island, James is reluctant to continue, as bad feelings make themselves known.  
  
  
  
Experiments  
  
  
  
Part Six  
  
  
James watched as Jessie ran away from him, not knowing what to do. He was so confused, unsure of himself. Everything that he thought he had known . . . everything that Giovanni had told him, were lies. He hadn't been created in a lab as Giovanni had told him. He was a real human being, with parents, with a life . . . a life that Giovanni had stolen from him.  
  
And that girl, that Jessie, she seemed so familiar to him. She claimed that they were more than just friends. But how could he believe that when she herself had said that she had handed him over to Giovanni in the first place?  
  
James turned, looking in the direction that Jessie had run off in. She seemed genuinely concerned for his safety, risking her own life to take him from the lab. Maybe he should go check on her welfare.  
  
He nodded to himself, deciding that he would see if she was okay or not. He walked after her, following the tracks that she had left behind her. He found her kneeling on the ground, her arms wrapped around her body as she sobbed.   
  
James stepped up behind her, feeling an overwhelming urge to comfort her. He couldn't understand it, didn't know why he was so concerned for her. Maybe there had been something between them, some connection.  
  
He knelt behind her. As he laid his hand on her shoulder, trying to offer some form of comfort, she looked to him. Her eyes glistened with her tears, her cheeks stained by the salty drops. But even though her eyes were red and puffy from crying, all that James saw was her beauty.  
  
"I'm sorry." She said, her voice barely able to be called a whisper.  
  
He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her body against his chest. He didn't know what to say, couldn't think of one word. But maybe his actions would be able to speak for him. Gently, he stroked her hair with one of his hands, trying to help her in some small way.  
  
  
*****  
  
  
Jesse let herself sink into James's embrace, never wanting him to ever let her go again. For so long she had longed for his touch, for the embrace he was now giving her. If only she hadn't yelled at him that night all those months ago, then he wouldn't have been kidnaped by that scientist.  
  
After a few moments she pulled herself away from his strong, comforting arms. "We should get going." She said, wiping her tears away.  
  
"Where to?" James asked, his face showing a hint of confusion.  
  
"I left some people behind on an island. I'm sure they're worried about where I went." She stood and began walking back to the cabin. "Come on, we really should get you a shirt. Maybe there's one in the cabin."  
  
Jessie turned and headed back to the cabin. She could hear his footsteps behind her, knew that he was following her. At least he didn't hate her. He never would have held her like that if he hated her . . . at least that was what she hoped.  
  
They left that very same day. Along the way to the island, after finding out where James had teleported them to in the first place, she kept a close eye on him. She would hate it if anything happened to him, if he got sick or something.  
  
Every day, James seemed to remember more and more of his life, of the time he had spent with Jessie and Meowth. But every night, he was plagued with nightmares. The dreams were so bad that he usually awakened screaming and covered in sweat.  
  
But each time that happened, Jessie was there for him. She wrapped her arms around him, and spoke soothingly to him, comforting him in every way she could think of. He accepted her comfort, crying against her as she held him time and again.  
  
"Why don't we just teleport there?" Jessie asked one morning, as they walked along the side of a dirt road.  
  
"I don't remember that place." He replied, keeping his gaze focused ahead of them. "If I haven't been there, or can't picture it, I can't go there. Besides, it tires me out far too quickly. I would rather have the strength to defend myself should Giovanni find us."  
  
Jessie merely nodded, not asking that question again. It took days to get back to the docks and rent a boat to get to Della's island. She couldn't remember where she had left the last boat. Of course it could have been stolen . . . it really didn't matter though. She had James back and she was happy. By the time they got in the boat, James had started smiling again. Not much, but it was a vast improvement over his somber dreary expression that he constantly wore. Giovanni had sure done a number on him. The memories lost . . . Jessie hoped that James would get them back. But even if he didn't, she wouldn't leave him. She still loved him, despite all the changes, the powers he now had. There were brief moments when she saw the youth she loved in the silent young man traveling with her now. Maybe she could teach him to be human again, to feel and care about things, to be close to what he had once been.   
  
There were no delusions of returning him to his old self completely . . . the James she had known and loved was gone forever. But this James still had the same beautiful soul . . . and she wouldn't be so foolish this time. She wouldn't wait until it was too late to tell him how she felt about him.  
  
She turned to him as he was untying one of the ropes that anchored their rented boat to the dock, nervous as she considered what she was about to say and do. "I love you, James." She said. "I still love you . . . no matter the changes." He looked to be ready to say something, but she held up her hand, ceasing any words that might have fallen from his lips. "No . . . don't say anything. You don't have to. I just . . . I just wanted you to know. I didn't want to make the same mistake I had before. I want you to know how I feel . . . I don't want to be afraid of admitting my feelings for you because of a fear of rejection. It doesn't matter to me if you don't love me in return . . . it would be great, but I don't want you to feel you need to say it back to me. When you're ready, you let me know how you feel about me. Good or bad, I'll still love you . . . but not until you are sure what your feelings for me are. I've got plenty of time. I'm not leaving you."  
  
James smiled, a real honest-to-God smile, and nodded. "When I discover my feelings, you will be the first to know." He said, tossing the rope he was holding aside.  
  
Jessie felt a smile curling her own lips and climbed into the boat, turning the ignition. She waited until James got in, then sped off toward the island, happy in the knowledge that James was at least considering his feelings for her.  
  
  
*****  
  
  
James wasn't sure how to react to the words Jessie had spoken a few minutes ago. His life was in turmoil already, everything that he thought he had known about himself was turned upside down. He was a real human, Giovanni was a bastard, and Jessie was in love with him. He had memories that were blurred. As hard as he tried, he just couldn't remember everything. There were gaps, huge holes in between things he had only begun to uncover in his own mind.  
  
He turned his gaze ahead of them, watching as they drew closer to the island. Even before they reached the shore, James could sense that there was something wrong. He could see no sign of a disturbance with his eyes, and yet . . . there was something unsettling about this place. It could have been a memory resurfacing, but James didn't think so . . . it felt to be so much more than a simple memory that had been locked in his subconscious.  
  
Still, he trusted in Jessie's judgement. If she wanted to go here, then there must be a reason to do so. She had said that she had left some people here. James hadn't recognized any of the names, but Jessie had assured him many times that he did know them, or at least that they knew him. His memories were far too hazy to make sense of. Sure, sometimes he did remember something clearly, either on his own or with Jessie's help, but for the most part his memories were still quite blurred.  
  
All he knew for sure was that Jessie was his friend . . . and that she loved him and wanted him to be more than just that, wanted him to love her in return. James vaguely remembered a talking Meowth, although he didn't know how the creature could speak, but he hadn't questioned Jessie of this, wanting to try and remember on his own if he could. Lately, all that he was remembering was the recent past, the experiments that had caused this to happen to him, the treatments given to him by Giovanni's doctors that had wiped his memories away and made him a virtual slave to the cruel leader of Team Rocket.  
  
He was jerked from his thoughts as the boat rocked. Jessie clasped his arm, smiling warmly at him. "Come on, we're here." She said, ushering James out of the boat and onto the shore.  
  
James nodded and followed, not saying anything as she hitched the boat to a nearby post and led him further onto the island. He looked around warily, knowing that there was something wrong here, although he didn't want to voice his fears, not sure if he was mistaken or not.  
  
The large house they walked to was in shambles. It wasn't a surprising sight though, Jessie had warned him that it would look like this. However, he had thought that there would be some people here. From what Jessie had said, there should have been three people and two pokemon camping out in front of this building, as well as a woman inside the building who also had a pokemon. Perhaps they had left . . . although how they could leave was a mystery. Jessie had claimed to have disabled the only other boat on this island. But if they couldn't leave, then where were the people?  
  
"Jessie, are you sure those people you left here couldn't find another way off of the island?" He asked.  
  
"I'm sure of it." She nodded. "There were two boats. Mine and Della's. I disabled Della's and took mine. There was no other way off of the island. It's too far to swim, and there are no phone lines out here. They couldn't have called for help or anything."  
  
"Then where are they?" James inquired.  
  
Jessie stopped in her tracks, turning her gaze to meet with his. "I don't know." She said honestly, her eyes marked with a hint of worry. "Let's look in the house. Perhaps Della convinced them to rest inside one of the nights I was gone."  
  
"Perhaps." James said quietly, although he didn't believe it. If Della was as cruel as Jessie claimed, then he didn't know why anyone would accept hospitality from her.  
  
As Jessie took a step toward the house, James grabbed her wrist. A flash of fear passed through his mind, telling him that whatever was wrong was in that house. "No, don't go in there." He insisted, as he backed away from the house, dragging Jessie along with him, pulling her back even while she asked him a flurry of questions.  
  
"What is it? What's wrong, James?" She asked, turning to face him. She wrenched her wrist from his grasp, clenching her fingers around his arms and looking deep into his eyes. "What is it? A memory? Something else? What's wrong?"  
  
"I don't know." James replied . . . not sure how he could explain the dread that was seeping into every fiber of his being. There was just something wrong here, no other explanation could hope to detail why he felt this way. "Just don't go in there." He said, trying to figure this out for himself, hoping that he would have a more suitable explanation if he could sort through the murkiness of his mind. "There's something wrong . . . something very wrong about this place."  
  
Jessie smiled, stroking her fingers along the side of his face. "It's okay, it's probably just some bad memories trying to resurface in your mind. I'm sure everything's going to be fine." Jessie said reassuringly, probably in an attempt to calm him.  
  
James would have smiled in return, if not for the frighteningly familiar voice that spoke up before he had the chance to. "I doubt that very much, Jessie. Please, both of you, relax and stay a while." The voice of Giovanni said.  
  
James stepped back, pulling Jessie along with him again, fear clouding his judgement. Giovanni was here . . . he wasn't safe. An army of Team Rockets members circled the two of them as Giovanni slowly stepped out of the front door of the house, leaving behind the shadows he had been hiding in. Behind him, more members of Team Rocket emerged, forcing four people out with them, along with two pokemon held captive in cages and a Machoke in chains.  
  
Panicking, James looked around, hoping to find any chance of escape. He could easily teleport out of here. But then what about those other people? Jessie would be upset if they were just left to suffer in her place, at least James thought that she would be. If she was taking the trouble to come and tell them she was well, then they did at least mean a little bit to her. He didn't want to upset her . . . but then again, he didn't want Jessie to get hurt either. And the option of attacking Giovanni was out of the question . . . for the simple fact that he couldn't attack the man without receiving intense pain in return.  
  
Giovanni laughed. "Looking for something, James?" He asked, reaching into one of his coat pockets. "I hope you aren't planning anything. I would hate to have to use this." He removed his hand from his pocket, pulling out a remote control device in his hand.   
  
James's eyes widened and he gasped, sure that his body was shivering in fear. "Don't." He said breathlessly, not a question, not a command . . . he was too frightened to add any type of threat or begging tone to his single word.  
  
"What the hell, I'll use it anyway. This is for daring to even try and run away from me!" He sneered, activating the control device. He turned the dial, deciding on a certain setting, then hit the single red button.  
  
In an instant, pain slammed into James's body. He collapsed to his knees, then completely to the ground, his body writhing in agony. It was as if a thousand daggers had been plunged into his back and were being twisted . . . dug deeply into his spine and slowly rotating. Heat seeped along his spine, setting his every nerve ending on fire. It was too much and he screamed, throwing his head back as his body went into convulsions.  
  
  
  
To Be Continued . . . 


	8. Part Seven

Disclaimers: I do not own Pokemon or any of its characters. I am making no money from this.  
  
Notes: This is the last part before the Epilogue. Jessie and James face off against Giovanni.  
  
  
  
Experiments  
  
  
  
Part Seven  
  
  
Jessie watched in horror as James crumbled to the ground. His slender body was reduced to writhing as he was assaulted with pain, which was induced by the implants that James had said were imbedded along his spinal cord. He screamed in agony, his body thrashing around on the ground. Giovanni laughed at James's pain, caring nothing for the suffering that he was causing with the remote held in his hand.  
  
In an instant, Jessie dropped to her knees beside James, pinning his shoulders to the ground in the hopes that she could help him . . . or at least prevent him from injuring himself. She didn't want him hurting . . . didn't want him to suffer. "Stop this!" She yelled, turning to glare at Giovanni.  
  
"Why should I?" Giovanni cruelly laughed. "I rather enjoy watching him squirm like the bug he is."   
  
Giovanni motioned to a few of the guards around him. Those men shoved Ash, Brock, Misty, and Della toward Jessie and James. Now the guards surrounded them all . . . keeping them all within an impenetrable circle of brute force. Still, Jessie's focus was solely on James and no one else. She barely noticed as Ash and Brock lent a hand in keeping James held down.  
  
It ended as quickly as it had started. Giovanni pressed a button on the remote, ceasing the assault on James. James's body slowly stilled, the convulsions lessening and eventually stopping altogether. His chest heaved with his ragged breaths, sweat plastering his hair and clothes to his skin. He closed his eyes, struggling to take deep breaths.  
  
Jessie set her hand against his face, brushing the hair from his eyes. Brock and Ash moved back a bit, watching what was going on without speaking. Jessie merely tended to James, moving her hand along his face, doing nothing more than just being there for him. There was nothing else she could so to help him anyway.  
  
When she was sure that he was getting better, when James's breathing finally grew steady and strong again, Jessie glared at Giovanni. "You bastard!" She seethed, rising to her feet and helping James up along with her. Brock steadied James from his other side, grasping his arm and holding him upright.  
  
"Such language, Jessie. Do you want me to punish James again?" Giovanni said. "You had better learn some manners, girl . . . you wouldn't want James to suffer for your impudent attitude now would you?"  
  
Jessie shut her mouth and glowered at Giovanni. She didn't want James to be made to suffer for her own attitude. "How did you know where we were coming?" She asked, stilling her anger in favor of gaining some answers from the grotesque man before her.  
  
"I left a few devices here to monitor Della and keep watch over her after taking what files I needed from her laboratory. She is quite an angry young woman, so vengeful. I couldn't have her continue with her experiments and create another subject like young James here." Giovanni said. "It was by chance that I became aware of your visit here, Jessie. When you so suddenly showed up and stole James from me, I knew you'd have to return to your friends eventually. It was only a matter of time. Took you long enough to get here though. I was beginning to think that James had done away with you himself."  
  
"I'd never hurt Jessie." James stated calmly.  
  
Giovanni rolled his eyes. "Well, isn't that a sickeningly sweet sentiment."  
  
"What do you plan to do with us?" Misty asked. On either side of her stood Ash and Brock . . . as always the three of them never seemed to part, even in the midst of danger.  
  
"Why you'll all lend a hand in my experiments of course. Since James worked out so well before Jessie here interfered, I'm going to need more soldiers for my army. You'll do just as well as anyone." Giovanni stated with a tone of boredom . . . as if this meant nothing to him whatsoever.  
  
James took a step forward. "I won't let you hurt Jessie." He hissed.  
  
"Be careful, James. This could be construed as rebellion . . . would you prefer to be punished again?"  
  
"I won't let you hurt Jessie." James repeated, taking another step forward.  
  
"James, stop. We'll figure some way out of this, don't worry." Jessie said, grasping his arm and trying to get him to back down. She didn't want him to get punished again, didn't want him to have to go through all that pain again. She just didn't want to see him suffer at all, never again.  
  
"Protective of each other I see." Giovanni chuckled. "Don't tell me the two of you have feelings for each other?" He shook his head. "Well, that is unfortunate. An emotional connection, especially a strong one, could pose trouble during experimentation . . . I'll just get rid of the trouble here and now I think." He held out his hand to one of the members of Team Rocket, who had been standing nearby. Without a word, the young man passed a firearm to Giovanni.  
  
Jessie's eyes widened, fearing for James. Would Giovanni use that gun to take out James? It would solve the problem. However, when Giovanni aimed the weapon, she knew that James was not the intended target. Her heart flipped in her chest . . . fear causing it to thump against her rib cage in a panic. Still, she was happy that James wasn't the target.  
  
It didn't hurt like she had thought it would. No, it was more like a heavy weight had slammed into her stomach, like a horse had kicked her. She didn't realize that she had fallen until she looked up and saw James above her, holding her body slightly off of the ground. He looked so sad . . . Jessie didn't want him to be sad. She raised her hand, setting it against his cheek, frowning when her fingers left a thick smear of crimson blood on his face. It was then that the pain hit her. She gasped, tears brimming in her eyes. It couldn't end like this . . . it couldn't.  
  
  
*****  
  
  
"No!" James screamed when the echoing bang of the gun went off. He turned quickly, catching Jessie's body in his arms and slowly lowering her to the ground. He cradled her body in his arms, pressing his one hand over her abdomen in the hopes of stopping the flow of blood. Ash and the others crowded around, but James paid them no attention, not caring that they were trying to help.  
  
She looked up at him, her eyes glazed with shimmering tears. She raised her hand, sliding her fingers along one of his cheeks and leaving a smear of blood behind. It was then that she gasped, her tears falling in streams from her pained eyes.  
  
"Jessie?" James whispered, watching as her eyes slowly drifted shut. He ran his fingers through her beautiful hair, his breath hitching in his throat as he watched her slip closer and closer to death. He couldn't let this happen . . . it was wrong. Despair flooded James at the thought of living without Jessie in his life. The images of his days with her swarmed his mind, reminding him of everything they had shared together. With tears in his eyes, James leaned over, his lips so close to her ear. "I remember you." He said in a choked whisper, hoping that Jessie could still hear him wherever she was.  
  
"Stop crying, you pathetic little worm! She isn't worth the effort of emotion!" Giovanni hissed, sneering at Jessie's bleeding form. "She was useless in life and the only use she'll have in death is to act as fertilizer. It's bad enough the bitch had to go and reawaken those erased memories of yours . . . now I'm going to have to have you reprogrammed."  
  
James couldn't believe the arrogance of this bastard. He gently set Jessie down on the ground, not wanting to cause her any more pain. With one last look at her paling skin, James rose to his feet and turned to face Giovanni. His eyes narrowed, glaring hatefully at this disgusting man before him. He couldn't let Giovanni get away with what he had done to Jessie. He had to suffer or at the very least to die for what he had done to her.  
  
"Grown a backbone, have you, James?" Giovanni smirked, raising the gun and aiming it directly at Ash. "Should I kill another of your little friends?" He asked.  
  
James stood his ground, concentrating minutely and wrenching the gun from Giovanni's hands with just a thought. He mentally tossed the cruel instrument that had hurt his Jessie aside, not bothering to watch where it landed. Giovanni had to pay for the cruelty and the pain that he had caused. "I'll see you dead for this." James spat, clenching his hands into tight fists.  
  
"I don't think so, boy!" Giovanni replied, pressing the button on the remote again.  
  
The pain crashed into James's back, climbing the length of his spine like a creature with its talons digging into flesh and bone. He felt as if his back was aflame, but paid no mind to it. He clenched his teeth together, focusing his gaze on the heartless bastard in front of him. He would use this pain, use it to focus his mind on his objective. He had to stop Giovanni . . . and protect the innocents at the same time. James wouldn't let others suffer when Giovanni was the only one that deserved to feel his wrath.  
  
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed as Della fought her way through the line of Team Rocket soldiers. Perhaps she was running, but it mattered not . . . she wasn't an innocent here. James remembered what Della had done to him. If she died today, whether by accident or by the hands of someone from Team Rocket, he would feel no remorse about it. She had started all of this after all. Still, James wouldn't kill her himself . . . he only wanted to see Giovanni die.  
  
Giovanni's eyes widened, his hands shaking as he turned the dial to increase the amount of pain that James felt. James staggered under the onslaught, but remained standing, pulling all of his energy together in preparation . . . he would protect Ash and the others . . . he would kill Giovanni for his cruelty. Despite the intense waves of pain crashing against him, he stood his ground, not willing to give in, knowing that he had to avenge Jessie.  
  
With a wave of his hand, Giovanni signaled his men to move in, wordlessly ordering them to put a stop to James's little rebellious moment. James didn't even spare a thought. He raised his hands, stretching them out and toward the men on either side of him. In less than a second, he projected an impenetrable wall around himself and the others, keeping them safe from those members of Team Rocket.  
  
"I'll see you dead." James repeated, turning his gaze to the remote in Giovanni's hand. With great force, he mentally tore the remote from the man's hand, throwing it to the ground hard enough to smash it to little bits. The pain quickly dissipated from James's body . . . now that the remote was broken, there was no way to control him.  
  
Suddenly there was an oddly familiar-sounding bang. Giovanni's eyes went wide, the color draining from his face rather quickly. His mouth opened in a wordless gasp, stumbling forward one, then two steps before he fell forward, landing with a resounding thud on the hard ground. A growing circle of blood spread out across his back, a hole at the center of the crimson stain.   
  
James blinked, not sure if he could believe what he was seeing. Standing not five paces behind where Giovanni had been standing a moment ago, stood Della Greene, the still-smoking gun clutched in a steady hand as she looked down on the dead man at her feet. "That's for my father, you son of a bitch!" She yelled with a cruel smile on her face, then spat onto the corpse.  
  
James retracted the growing force of his power, warily watching the group of men surrounding them for any sign of danger. One by one, the members of Team Rocket turned and ran like the rats they were . . . scattering now that their leader was dead. Cowards, James thought, although he did remember that he had once been a member of that group . . . not anymore, today he officially resigned.  
  
With a smirk on his face, James felt the wear on his body rapidly taking its toll. The pain he had suffered only moments ago, echoed in his bones. He stumbled then fell to his knees, collapsing completely to the ground less than a minute later. He was tired, his body weary and achy. With his last ounce of strength, he reached his hand over to Jessie's still form, taking hold of her hand and holding it while darkness descended on him.  
  
  
  
To Be Continued . . . 


	9. Epilogue

Disclaimers: I do not own Pokemon or any of its characters. I am making no money from this.  
  
Notes: The conclusion to my fic. It's sappy but this is the way I like it.  
  
  
  
Experiments  
  
  
  
Epilogue  
  
  
It was once said that in the beginning, it is always dark. James could attest to that fact as he fought his way to wakefulness. While he'd slept, several memories had returned to him. Most of them had to do with Jessie. Jessie . . . the very thought of her name made him want to sink back into the darkness. She was gone . . . with a wound like the one that Giovanni had given her, she HAD to be gone.  
  
Regardless of his wishes, he opened his eyes and found himself in a small, but cozy room. A flood of sunlight washed over the blankets covering his body, illuminating the room as well as warming his tired form. He heard a sound from somewhere in the room and tried to sit up, only to groan as all of his muscles protested even that meager amount of movement. He fell back to the bed, wincing his eyes shut as flashes of white speckled across his field of vision.  
  
"James? Ya okay?" A voice asked. Strange . . . it sounded so familiar, and yet James couldn't place it immediately. Of course, with all the memories he had lost, James could hardly remember anything . . . well anything other than Jessie.  
  
"Who's there?" James asked weakly, blinking his eyes open, but finding that there was no one in the room that he could see.  
  
"It's Meowth." The voice replied. Not a moment later, the small catlike pokemon jumped up onto James's bed, sitting on the edge and watching him with a concerned visage. "Ya haven't forgotten Meowth, have ya?"  
  
James feigned a smile despite his injuries and the aches throbbing throughout his body. "No, I remember you." He said. "It just took me a moment to place the voice with the face . . . things aren't clear any more."   
  
Meowth nodded, apparently accepting James's reason for being confused a moment ago. "Those Team Rocket bums all ran off . . . guess they weren't so tough. That Della woman, she took us in, said she had no need for her experiments now that she avenged her father. Ash and the other twerps took off a couple days ago . . . went back ta training." Meowth said, filling James in on the recent news events. "They stayed long enough ta help out though . . . bringing ya and Jess into Della's house and fixing ya up. Della's broken arm would'a made it difficult ta work on ya otherwise."  
  
James turned away, his heart aching with the knowledge that Jessie was gone. He remembered her and now she was gone . . . he didn't want to live without her. It just hurt too much to even consider the idea of staying alive now. Meowth's words only served to drive a stake of grief through his heart.  
  
"How long have we been here?" James asked, although the pain in his heart made it difficult to even get those few words to fall from his lips.  
  
"Almost a week now. Ya must have been exhausted, using up all that energy like ya did. Della said it was like ya were in a coma . . . dead to the world." Meowth said. The word 'dead' did little to make James feel any better . . . no, it only served to twist the knife of despair that had been plunged deep into his chest. Meowth sighed, setting a paw on James's blanket-covered leg and regaining his attention. "Ya know, Jess has been really worried about ya."  
  
That single statement got James's complete attention. "Jessie? She's alive?" He asked, but then shook his head. "No . . . but I thought that Giovanni killed her."  
  
Meowth grinned. "Nah, ain't that easy to kill Jess . . . you should know that by now James, after all we've been through together. Della patched her up . . . with the help of those three twerps. Like I said, Della's broken arm made it difficult to tend to both of ya, but she did it, sewed Jess up real well. She's a good doctor for a mad scientist."  
  
"I want to see her." James replied, pushing himself to a sitting position. He just had to see for his own eyes, only then would he believe the words of Meowth. He didn't want to find out this was all some twisted joke, or worse yet a dream from which he would awaken come morning.  
  
"But ya gotta rest, James. Ya ain't well yet." The pokemon argued, trying to push James back down on the bed.  
  
James threw the covers from himself, swinging his legs over and off the edge of the bed. He grabbed a nearby robe, covering himself out of modesty then staggered over to the door, his head swimming with dizziness with every step he took. "I have to see her." He demanded, finally reaching the door and opening it. "Where is she?" He asked, looking up and down the empty hallways, unsure of what direction he was supposed to head in.  
  
"Well, since ya insist on going, I probably won't be able ta stop ya." Meowth sighed, shaking his head. "Follow me." He walked off down a hallway. James followed close behind.  
  
It was only a short few minutes later that James found himself facing a closed door. Meowth had led him here, then had respectfully left, telling James that if he needed anything all he had to do was call. James appreciated the consideration, thankful that he was being given some privacy for this moment. If this was true, if she really was alive, he did want to be alone with Jessie . . . even if all he did was talk with her.  
  
Swallowing against the lump of nervousness that had so suddenly filled his throat, James reached out his hand. He was shaking when he grasped the doorknob, more afraid than he could remember ever being. The prospect of finding out that all this had been a lie, that Jessie was in fact really dead, left him scared. With a bated breath, James turned the knob and opened the door, stepping into the room.  
  
He gasped as his eyes fell on the bed at the other end of the room. There was Jessie, wearing a simple nightgown and covered by blankets. Her luminous hair was such a vibrant color, it stood out on the pristine sheets. She was beautiful, the sunlight bathing her face with its light. He forgot to breathe for a moment he was so entranced by her loveliness.  
  
James hadn't realized that he had taken a step into the room until he was standing at the edge of her bed. He sank into a nearby chair, his eyes glued to her still form, watching the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed evenly. She was alive . . . his heart sang in triumph at the notion that she was really alive.  
  
Timidly, almost fearfully, James stretched out his hand, delicately brushing the strands of silken hair away from Jessie's face. He didn't want to shatter this illusion if it was one . . . he didn't want to break this spell and find himself alone and grieving for his lost love again. He wanted this to last, wanted to keep seeing Jessie alive and well. Could he really trust his own eyes . . . this vision of beauty before him?  
  
Jessie's eyes fluttered open, blinking repeatedly before her gaze settled on James. She smiled, an expression that melted James's heart into a mushy puddle of goo. "You're okay." She rasped, her voice weak and strained. "I wanted to come see you myself . . . but I'm a bit tired."  
  
James smiled in return, taking hold of Jessie's hand and letting his fingers weave together with hers. "I'm here and I'm fine. How are you?" He asked, concerned, hoping for the best and yet fearing the worst. Maybe she could still die . . . he didn't want that, but it was possible.  
  
"Della says I'll be fine. I'm just on a lot of painkillers right now . . . Meowth is watching out for me. He'd never lie to me, he's always bluntly honest, so I know I'm not dying. He would have told me if I am." Jessie said, speaking as frankly as she always did.  
  
"You will be fine." James replied, knowing it to be true now. He had no doubts anymore. If Jessie believed that she was well, then she was well. He looked down at their interlocked hands, taking a moment to collect his thoughts. There was something that he wanted to tell her, something on his mind that was tearing a hole in his soul. "Jessie . . . I remember you." He said as he raised his gaze again, looking deep into her beautiful eyes. "And I want you to know that I still love you."  
  
The smile that Jessie gave off could have filled the room with light if it were possible. Still, it warmed James's heart tremendously to see that expression fixed on her face. "I'm so happy you said that." She exclaimed, although tiredly. "I love you too." She raised her hand, sliding it lovingly along his cheek.  
  
James caught her hand, bringing it to his lips and giving it a soft kiss. "I think you should get some rest, Jessie. Maybe when we're better we can do something together . . . a nice vacation perhaps?"  
  
"I'd like that." Jessie said, smiling softly at him. "A beach perhaps . . . someplace peaceful and warm." She yawned widely and gave James an apologetic smile. "Sorry." She whispered wearily.  
  
James shook his head, although it only caused the ache in his skull to swell with the movement, even as slight as it was. "There is no need to apologize. You're tired. You really should rest and get well so we can get to that beach."  
  
"Hmm . . ." Jessie sighed, her eyes already having fallen shut. James chuckled lightly, amused to see that she had so quickly fallen into the sleep that she most definitely did need.  
  
James sat in his seat and watched Jessie sleep for a few minutes . . . basking in her glorious beauty. He yawned, his own fatigue setting upon him. He leaned forward in the chair until his head was on Jessie's bed. Even though sleep called to him, he kept his gaze locked on his beloved's visage. A part of him was still afraid that she would vanish, that this was all some wicked trick.   
  
Without thinking, James reached up and took hold of one of Jessie's hands again. When her fingers tightened their hold, James smiled and succumbed to slumber and dreamed of the long and happy life he would have with Jessie at his side. She was all he needed . . . well, perhaps a few kids for them to dote attention on sometime in the future.  
  
  
  
The End 


End file.
